Newbies, PLEASE DON'T do this...

Maybe his GPS quit working. What else was he supposed to do?

 

Hit a dust storm today in KS along I-70.
Going along, and slowing because of the dust.
Several had pulled to the shoulder and stopped, 4-ways flashing.

I didn't stop, just slowed some more but kept rolling.
About 2/3 through the dust storm there were 2 cars in the center median, fairly crushed.

The dust was only within a 2 mile stretch, so it was easily passed.
But if you stop dead in such a case, you might end up that way.

A bit later I pulled in to the rest stop at Burlington CO, just behind another truck.
As I chatted with the driver I realized he had gone through that dust storm just before me, but had seen no cars in the center.

We could not have been more than a minute apart in that storm.
Things happen quickly, especially if you are not ready for them.

And especially, if someone does such a stupid thing as stop in a lane instead of pulling off to the side.

 

As the resident newbie, I'll ask.....

Was his truck stopped because of the elements? Breakdown?

I'd just like to be prepared if I am ever in such a situation.

Cheers!

 

He said it was a May driver, that says it all. He got scared and stopped where he was....I see it in the thick fog all the time. Extremely dangerous if not deadly. If you lack the experience, just do like he mentioned above and pull over, it really is that simple.

 

11/14 hours was up ???

 

There's no excuse for it, especially since US40 has a shoulder... if he was shooting CO94 to the Springs, there wouldn't have been a whole lot he could've done if, say, his truck had broken down (I understand it wasn't the reason he did what he did, and I'm certainly not going to defend what he did, just wanted to highlight a theoretical situation).
Prime driver did something similar to me on I80, just after I'd cross into Illinois from Indiana... it was windy, and had been raining, but we caught it especially bad right there. He slams on his brakes, comes to a stop on the Interstate, then starts freaking out on his CB about how he can't go any further, he only has 1000 lbs. on his trailer, etc.

 

Last winter we got an e-mail from the corporate safety officer stating anyone caught driving in a whiteout would be put out of service .
My affiliate owner has over 30 years driving experience . I fwd'ed the e-mail to him right away and asked if safety was really that ignorant .
He told me he had already been in contact with them .
Another time after a driver had a trailer come uncoupled they sent us all an e-mail reminding us how they taught us to hook to trailers . The instructions told us to hook the airlines then apply the trailer parking brake in the cab to supply air to the trailer .
I replied asking for further instructions with pictures if possible because I could only find 2 valves in my tractor that supplied air to the trailer . Both were clearly marked "NOT TO BE USED FOR PARKING " .
I am employed by my affiliate owner who has about 50 trucks contracted to the carrier . Our corporate safety officer came from Swift .

 

Dont you love when pencil pushers tell us how to do our jobs?

 

Yeah , especially when they only hire experienced drivers and remind us how "they " trained us . I really went off on the regional safety director about that once in an e-mail and fwd'ed copies to corporate safety and my affiliate owner .
A gasket on a cleanout cap failed and a scale saw a small stream on the side of the trailer when I braked at the scale . Nothing even went halfway down the trailer . Another driver had preloaded the trailer and dropped it in the yard . He post tripped it . I pretripped it a couple of hours later including checking cleanout caps . There was no sign of a leak .
The regional director said I couldn't have done a pretrip and I couldn't have been watching my mirrors "like they taught me " . She said I'd have to watch inspection videos as corrective action .
After my e-mail saying I considered their orientation Texas two step training I was told there would be no corrective action .